A week or so ago, Gluten-Free Gidget posted about ingredient guilt. You know – it’s that feeling you get when you buy something, with some grand (or not so grand) idea in mind and then the ingredient sits in your cupboard for weeks, or maybe months, unused. Every time you open the cupboard, there it is – staring at you. (What?!? Your ingredients don’t stare at you?)

So, I thought about what was in my cupboard, staring at me and that’s a bag of Trader Joe’s peanut flour. I heard about it on The Non-Dairy Queen’s blog. I immediately ran out and bought some. And then I realized I had no idea how to use it. Oops. I’ve never been one to be stopped by not knowing what I’m doing, though. So, this morning I woke up determined to bake something with peanut flour.

Another source of inspiration for me is the blogger community and the various challenges and carnival posts. This month’s Sweet or Savory Challenge ingredient is apples. Apples and peanut butter are one of my all-time favorite snack. So, why not combine apples with peanut flour, too?

So what do you get when you combine apples, peanut flour, and a cold Wisconsin Autumn morning? An apple, peanut baked good, of course. Scones to be exact. Well, they’re somewhere between a scone and a cookie – moister than most scones, but only mildly sweet. Maybe I should call this a scookie? As a bonus, they’re grain free and vegan as well! For inspiration, I looked to the lovely Elana of Elana’s Pantry and her recipe for almond flour scones, the recipe which has seemed to inspire every grain-free scone on the internet.

In a mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, applesauce, flax seed, and palm sugar. (I mixed this all with a fork.) Stir in the flours, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well-combined. Stir in the chopped dried apple.

On a parchment-lined cookie sheet, pat the dough into a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the circle into 8 wedges. Bake for approximately 15 minutes.

Would you believe I’ve never heard of peanut flour? Sounds great! And I, too, think that the apple-PB combo is one of the all-time great flavor matches. 🙂 Thanks so much for this delectable contribution to this month’s SOS Challenge–they look divine! (And I’m thinking that since peanuts are legumes, perhaps if I subbed chickpea flour maybe I could try these babies out, too. . . . ) 🙂

Seriously creative Deanna. As soon as we move (trying to eat up the pantry right now) I’m going to get that peanut flour. My husband can’t have almonds, and this looks like a great alternative to almond flour.

Quick note – my last email to you bounced! It was an update on the ebook – see my blog mid-day tomorrow as I will have a full update. Just thought you might want to see how it is doing.

Not only can I relate on ingredient guilt, but with peanut flour in particular! I have a pound of it at home that I haven’t even opened.
And I have all of these other ingredients! Well, except dried apples. But with a little planning, I could make those myself…I might add a dash of apple pie spice too :]
Looks moist and delicious!

Hm…it might. But, if you have some coconut flour, I think you could toss some grated apple with a few tablespoons of coconut flour to absorb some of the moisture and try it that way. Might need to bake a smidgen longer….

Hey Deanna, I just made these tonight! I chopped and dehydrated a Granny Smith apple and threw the whole thing in, along with about 1/2 tsp of apple pie spice and 2 Tbsp agave nectar in addition to the sugar (I like my sweet stuff SWEET!). The boyfriend and I both liked them a lot! Thanks for the great recipe :]

Ditto! I forgot to mention I also baked them for 17 minutes—I think the apple did retain some moisture, and since I used homemade almond meal (from soaked, ground, strained, dehydrated almond meat – whew), the fat content was quite high, so they’re uber-moist—even better the next day! This morning they had gone from “really good” to “GREAT.” :]

Yep – I found they got better the next day, too. I love how super duper moist they are – but they become less and less like scones and more and more like a cookie/muffin kind of thing. (I always think of scones as somewhat dry – but in a good way.) No matter – as long as they taste good, right?

These look fantastic. I’m going to throw in some raisins and cinnamon as well. I wonder if you could substitute mashed overripe banana for the applesauce and dried banana for the dried apple and do a peanut butter & banana variation?

DEEEEE-LICIOUS, and so easy, I can’t believe they turned out so well- I subbed hazelnut flour for the peanut since we had it already. Next time I am going to add chopped nuts too, and maybe decrease oil or applesauce, they were almost too moist for me, and def too sweet. Everyone but me liked that part, of course 🙂

Good to know they work with hazelnut flour. I think that peanuts are less “sweet” than other nuts. So, if you do it with peanut flour you might want to do some taste testing to adjust for sweetness. I think various brands of palm sugar also vary in their sweetness, but I’m not positive of that. They are super moist, you’re right. I think they could be less moist, too.